University of New Mexico regents voted Monday, March 14, to put themselves in charge of the Health Sciences Center despite public objections to the sudden shift.
On a 4-to-2 vote, UNM鈥檚 regents scrapped the existing seven-member Health Sciences board, which included spots for community members and the hospital chairman. They鈥檝e replaced it with a board of three regents.
The includes the hospital, medical and nursing schools, and the cancer center.
Lorie MacIver is district president of the hospital workers union and a nurse at UNMH. She said before the issue showed up on the regents鈥� meeting agenda Friday, she had never heard this huge change was coming down the pipe, and the short notice didn鈥檛 leave staffers time to juggle shifts so they could attend the meeting. "Why was it so necessary to ram it through today?" she asked. "Somebody suggested a six-month wait. Why couldn鈥檛 they have done that?"
MacIver said the takeover will affect workers, and their input should have been considered. "There鈥檚 no transparency here," she said. "It鈥檚 about as transparent as a brick wall." She added that she鈥檚 concerned about what partners will think of the regents鈥� disregard for the community and the sudden maneuvering. MacIver said the move raises a lot of questions that the union will have to consider.
One regent that the quick change was necessary given looming financial issues.
